Post navigation

Howard Hawks’ 1959 Western Rio Bravo is quite the dude fest, a male bonding shoot-em-up that sings the virtues of “My Rifle, My Pony and Me.” But it’s impossible to forget the movie’s considerable feminine sex appeal in the form of 27-year-old Angie Dickinson, who romances John Wayne and shaves Dean Martin amid all that testosterone. (It’s also hard to believe she was almost fifty when she steamed up the screen in 1980′s Dressed to Kill.)

Dickinson and Ben Mankiewicz will be on hand 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Texas Theater to introduce and discuss the film as part of the TCM Road to Hollywood tour, a traveling road show featuring classic Hollywood movies. Click here for info on getting free tickets.

Dickinson, now 81, spoke with me Tuesday morning about her Rio Bravo experience. Among the highlights:

On Hawks, one of the great filmmakers of the Hollywood studio system – “He was a grumpy man, and he’d be the first to tell you that. He knew he was not friendly on the set, and he had a big job. He’s working with a new actress who doesn’t know beans, and with John Wayne, who’s not known as the best thespian ever. Ricky Nelson had never done a movie, and Dean was used to comedies. He had to be grumpy, thinking, how am I going to make this work?”

On romancing The famously reticent Duke onscreen – “It was written so well, and he was just enchanting. He was adorable, playing this macho guy who was not allowed to be macho around her. She got one up on him every time. He’s not just saving the town, or saving the cattle run. He’s cute. He had to stretch in this part.”

On why she wanted to be an actress – “Well, I didn’t want to be a nun. When I was five, and they asked me what I wanted to be, I said, ‘I want to be a movie star.’ Then I got an acting job on the Jimmy Durante Show, with Frank Sinatra. I was 21. And that was it. I was bitten by the bug. I knew I wanted to be a part of that world.”